Towneley News2020

Every Saturday 5K Park Run 9am What’s On Every Sunday Junior Park Run 9am NEW RIVERSIDE MARCH 31 Primary School Cross Country 9am – 11.30am PLAYGROUND! APRIL 5 Brun Valley 10 K 12 FOTP EASTER TRAIL 12noon 23 and Pendle Scouts Parade MAY 2 FunFair 3 May Day Festival 8 V E Day 10 RunFresh - Bubble Run 24 Run for All JUNE 6-7 Fulledge Colts Annual Youth Tournament 7 FOTP BRASS BAND East Lancs Concert Band 2pm – 4pm 28 Classic Car Show 29-30 Pinder’s Non-Animal Family Circus JULY 1-5 Pinder’s Non-Animal Family Circus 8-12 Burnley Wakes Fun Fair 10-12 Trail Blaster Endurance Run 20 Burnley 10k AUGUST Towneley Riverside – Access all areas 1-2 Food Festival The Riverside play area is now fully the existing equipment was refurbished SEPTEMBER open following a major refit and and a state of the art interactive Yalp 11-13 Heritage weekend. Free access to the Hall. refurbishment. With grant funding from play-arch installed. Craft Fair and guided tours. Environmental Fund, Friends The facilities at the Riverside car park have of Towneley Park (FOTP), a Government OCTOBER been improved with the installation of a grant and Tesco, the play area has been 19-30 FOTP Trail in Hall Changing Places toilet cubicle that will meet transformed, at a cost of £130,000. the needs of disabled visitors to our park. Included in the refit is some new NOVEMBER equipment that is accessible to people We hope that these improvements will 5 Bonfire with mobility issues, better pathways, encourage even more people to visit 8 Remembrance Sunday 11am improved seating, bespoke climbing our park and enjoy all that Towneley frames and musical play items. Some of has to offer. 29 Christmas Craft Fair DECEMBER 6 FOTP SANTA COMES TO TOWNELEY. INSIDE: QUEEN’S AWARD Must be pre-booked. FOR VOLUNTARY SERVICE th Published by PLASTIC FREE TOWNELEY PARK ILLUMINATING TOWNELEY HALL 20

KEEPING ACTIVE ISSUE Reg. Charity No. 1144988 ROYAL STAMP OF APPROVAL Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service (QAVS) The Friends of Towneley Park are proud to Lancashire to be given the award. Two have received this award in June 2019, “for members of the Friends group, Maureen working to maintain and improve Towneley and Andrew, attended a Queen’s garden Park since 2003.” party at Buckingham Palace, and then an The award is the equivalent of an MBE official ceremony was hosted by the Lord for Voluntary service, and is given after Lieutenant of Lancashire at County Hall, competition with other groups nationwide. Preston. The QAVS trophy is now displayed in FOTP were one of only six groups in the foyer at Towneley Hall.

Here are just some of the improvements that the Friends group have implemented and helped to fund since 2003:

• Fit4All outside gym equipment • Refurbishment of Italian Garden • Improvements to Footpaths near fountain Unity College • Adventure play equipment • 20,000 daffodils planted at Barwise playground • Queen’s jubilee trees planted • Riverside playground equipment • New Benches • Wild flower planting • Smallholdings sculpture trail • Small Lime walk reclaimed • New footpaths round playing fields • Provision of Mobility Scooters • Information signs and notice boards • History trail and posts • Wicker deer in Italian Garden • Large Memorial poppy

The Friends group undertake regular activities including: • Gardening The Friends also help to organise and • Refurbishment of benches fund many of the events in the park such as Santa comes to Towneley, Easter and • Plant sales Hallow E’en trails, Brass Band in the Park, • Litter picking Craft Fair refreshments, Heritage and Woodland festival. New members are • Bird feeding always very welcome and the future of • Himalayan Balsam picking Towneley Park depends on the continued support of volunteers.

Towneley Barwise The Barwise play area at the far funded the new equipment, and side of the park, with its own car will also pay for a portable toilet to parks and easy access from the top be installed at Barwise from April to of Todmorden Road, has also been September at a cost of £650. improved by the installation of two new play wigwams, a new picnic The wonderful climbing frame and table with wheelchair access, and trim trail provide fun for children of new drains to keep the area drier. all ages, so please make good use The Friends of Towneley Park have of this play area too. Help Us to Keep Towneley Park Plastic Free

This year we are launching a project to help their own re-usable bottles rather than Stephens, Springfield and Schools keep the park tidy and free from single use buying bottled water. are all having fish tanks installed in a classroom plastic. This is a partnership project between For several years now FOTP have been working to enable the children to learn about the life Friends of Towneley Park, Burnley Borough with Ribble Rivers Trust (RRT) and this work cycle of brown trout before releasing the Council, Unity College, Ribble Rivers Trust, is continuing with the Trout in the Classroom fish into the river. The pupils learn about the local primary schools and the mayor of project. Three local primary schools St importance of keeping the rivers clean, they Burnley Councillor Anne Kelly. help with litter picking and come up with their Councillor Kelly says “‘I fully support the own ideas for supporting wildlife. This year initiative to make Towneley plastic free. The they will be writing poetry to encourage all the evidence is clear in proving the need to users of the park to reduce plastic waste and eliminate single use plastic. Also, in the park, take their litter home. plastic creates a massive amount of refuse Neil Ashworth from RRT and litter which has to be removed. I am says “We are very excited Chair of Governors at Unity College and our to be a part this innovative Head has already introduced new initiatives environmental project. in College. By summer 2020 we will no By taking our education longer sell single use plastic.” programme out of the Already the project is making a difference classroom and into the park, with real-life as Burnley Borough Council will ensure issues, the children will realise that they, that any contractors, suppliers or vendors and their families, can make a real and working in the park are aware of their sustainable difference.” responsibility to reduce single use plastic Please help us to keep Towneley clean and and take their rubbish away with them. tidy by reducing the amount of single use Drinking water fountains are being installed plastic that you buy and by taking your in the park to encourage people to bring litter home with you to recycle.

Protect the Planet – Plant Trees Just over 20 years ago, for the millennium, Is now the time to start thinking again Keith Wilson, with Burnley Borough Council, about a larger scale tree planting project at Trees for Burnley, and other groups, planted Towneley? Could we use the edges of the 9 1 million trees across the Borough, including hole golf course or expand the woodlands the Smallholdings Wood, now renamed at the top of Deer Park Road? Are there open Wilson’s wood. places in existing woodlands that could In 2012 the Friends of Towneley Park planted be planted up? The Council and over 100 another 120 trees on the edge of the wood, volunteers planted 1000 trees at Rowley on a including a Royal Oak from the Royal Park, to cold December morning in 2019. Do we, like commemorate the Queen’s Golden Jubilee. them, want to plant saplings or trees with In 2017 100 oak trees were planted across more significant growth? We are hoping the the Borough as a reminder of the young men Government will take this issue seriously, who died a hundred years earlier in WW1. and work alongside us to provide money, These are important, but relatively small trees and ideas. Can you help too? Contact contributions to improve global warming, FOTP if you want to help and we can let you at a time when climate change is becoming know what, when, where and how we are more obvious. Perhaps we need to do more. planning to move this project forward. Hall Lighting The Friends of Towneley Park and the Towneley Hall Society, have collaborated with Burnley Council to illuminate the exterior of the Hall for special occasions. With lighting from acdc Lighting in Barrowford https://www.acdclighting.com/ , plans were made in 2019, and implemented in spring 2020, to light the front of the hall with LED fusion floodlights which can be made to change colour, and this will create a special ambiance for weddings, Ghost trails, special concerts and more, as we aim to draw more visitors to the Hall’s amazing setting. Towneley Hall, is a crucial part of a visit to Towneley Park, and is drawing in events and visitors from across Lancashire and beyond. However, more help is needed to ensure the future of this wonderful, but ageing building, and everyone who visits needs to pay for their own car parking and Hall entry - both are a bargain in comparison with other similar historic sites!

Help make Lighting Pathways our next venture - If you would like to help fund lights for the pathways to the hall, please visit our website www.fotp.btck.co.uk or Friends of Towneley Park facebook page, to donate and state your donation is for Lighting Pathways or phone 01282 432423 for more information. Keeping Active at Towneley There are many ways to keep active in Towneley Park and improve your physical and mental health. Throughout the year there will be plenty of events that encourage walking, running, cycling and a whole host of other activities. One regular activity is Parkrun and it’s free to enter. Parkrun is a timed 5k course that you can run, walk or jog every Saturday at 9am, and, for our younger visitors Junior Parkrun is a 2k course on Sunday mornings at 9am aimed at children aged 4 to 14. For more information visit parkrun.org.uk/burnley or parkrun.org.uk/burnley-juniors Not only has the Parkrun phenomenon encouraged many Burnley people to get active for the first time, it also brings many ‘parkrun tourists’ to the town. In 2019 for the first time the parkrun volunteers managed to host a run on both Christmas Day and New Year’s Day and more than 1300 runners completed the course. There were visitors from as far away as Australia. Coming Soon - Rounders League Starting again on Wednesday evenings (6.30pm - 8.30pm) in late April and run till late August. Last year 12 teams took part. For more details on entering a team please phone Janet Roundell on 01282 477167. Volunteering Opportunities at Towneley If you prefer to keep active in a non-sporty way, there are lots of voluntary groups working in the park who would love to hear from you including: Friends of Towneley Park: Trees for Burnley: contact June Evans [email protected] 01282 439034 or email Towneley Hall Society: [email protected] www.towneleyhallsociety.co.uk Ribble Rivers Trust: Offshoots: www.ribbletrust.org.uk/volunteering Emma [email protected] Parkrun: e mail [email protected].

Mobility Scooters Did you know that you can borrow a mobility scooter from Towneley Hall? All we ask is for a small donation to help us maintain and service the scooters. For more information contact 01282 477130.

How to Find Us: Towneley Hall, Towneley Holmes, Burnley, BB11 3RQ

CONTACT DETAILS FOTP Meetings Friends of Towneley Park, Chairman Maureen Frankland Monday 27th April 1pm (Friends Meeting Room) 01282 432423 Monday 27th July 1pm (Friends Meeting Room) [email protected] AGM Saturday 17th October 11am (Hall Lecture Theatre) Park Rangers: 01282 831053 Park events and management: [email protected] REGULAR ACTIVITIES Towneley Hall events and bookings: 01282 477130 Every Thursday – FOTP Gardening Club 10am–12 noon. Hall opening times: February half term to beginning of Meet at the Friends Meeting Room. November -Daily (except Friday) 12noon to 4pm. Crafters meet every Monday from From November to February half term Saturday September to May 1pm–3pm. and Sunday only 12noon to 3pm Everyone welcome to come along. © Burnley 2020. Job_16537 creative-council.net Council

Thanks to Friends of Towneley Park for sponsoring this newsletter.